1) Please use
[code][/code] tags around your code, to preserve formatting and to improve readability.
2) Please include a real, representative example of the input to be processed, so we know exactly what we're supposed to be dealing with, and don't have to guess.
3) From what I understand of the match function (and to tell the truth, I'm not too familiar with it), you appear to have the syntax wrong, at least, and are perhaps using it completely inappropriately.
http://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/man...Functions.html
4) From all of this, I get the suspicious feeling that this is really an
XyProblem. Perhaps you should explain exactly what you are trying to accomplish, and why.